Here Without You
by Amarxlen
Summary: Naruto would show up, call me stupid and look worried. Sakura would kneel by me, look more worried than Naruto. And they would help. ...But Naruto and Sakura never came. -SPOILERS FROM CHAPTER 411-


_**Summary**__ – Naruto would show up, call me stupid and look worried. Sakura would kneel by me, look more worried than Naruto. And they would help. ...But Naruto and Sakura never came._

_"I'm here without you  
__But you're still on my lonely mind  
__I think about you  
__And I dream about you all the time."  
__**Here Without You – 3 Doors Down**_

_Here Without You  
__Amarxlen_

Suigetsu's concern was unfounded, really. The eight tailed beast was skilled with swords? So what? I was, too. I stood there, waiting, sure that, even if the battle weren't a quick one, it would end with me the victor. Because there was no room for failure. When this ended successfully and the eight tailed beast was taken back to Akatsuki, I would learn more about the tailed beasts.

I knew that when I found the right time for attacking Konoha, Naruto would be the biggest threat. I'd seen it myself at the Valley of the End – that raw power, the way his chakra acted independent of his will, the way his speed was nearly untraceable to my Sharingan. How well would the others be able to see him? How long would it take before he killed all of them and came after me; would it be before I could kill the village elders? I knew that if he found me before I could accomplish my goal it would result in a battle. And if the Valley of the End was any indication, I might not be able to walk away from that battle and then I'd be killed. Because that would be the consequence if I failed. There was no room for failure.

That was why Naruto was the greatest threat. A greater threat than Sakura and her beastly strength and healing. A greater threat than Kakashi and his inadequate lone Sharingan eye – stolen blood – and the way he understood more than I cared to admit or wanted him to.

With all that in mind, I stood my ground and waited for the eight tailed beast. Yet when he launched himself at me, I was still surprised at the force and speed he swung his swords at. It had been so long since that battle in the Valley of the End. I wasn't used to such an opponent. There was little more I could do than parry his swords, trying to find an opening. Even with Sharingan activated his speed left little time for me to react. And then I was too slow, falling back and sporting shallow sliver like wounds.

He was strong, and he was fast, but I was stronger and faster. I hadn't trained all those years with Orochimaru and learned nothing. Granted it wasn't for this purpose – a fight against a jinchuriki – but rather a fight with a decidedly human opponent. Either way, there was no way to block Chidori. But he did, and I was more surprised than the three of them – Suigetsu, Juugo and Karin – combined. Then I felt the blade, heard the blood, saw it through wide eyes. It was too red, too bright to possibly belong to me. That was the power of the tailed beasts, dangerous and god like in their strength.

The ground, when it came, was softer than I had expected it to be, the dirt that littered it literally shoving salt into an open wound. And then, in a more figurative sense, salt was rubbed onto other aching wounds. This was too much like those times when I came away derisory, injured, weak. Those times when he jumped in and finished off a foe I couldn't. It was maddening. This was too much like that. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I expected him to show up, shouting things about not giving up and winning another fight I couldn't. Even as I stood up, I expected him to rush in and grin at me, saying something about what a mess I was and how he'd take down this guy, easy.

And the eight tailed beast was at it again, swinging his blades in blinding motion, rushing at me faster than he had a moment before, even though his former speed was certainly adequate. And somehow, I was able to attempt to keep up through the red haze that had fallen around me. Red from blood loss, red from the Sharingan, I didn't know. But I was able to keep fighting, although there was no way it could be for long.

I could feel the wound stretching and burning as I moved, hear Karin's stupid yells about how fantastic I was, feel the tension in the air around Suigetsu and Juugo who probably wished they could jump in. But they couldn't, and they knew it. They could tell the situation was worse than we'd expected it to become, even if Karin couldn't. I wished she would. I wished she would realize that it hurt, that I wanted to stop, that I wasn't the amazing god she somehow saw me as. Because this was exactly how Sakura had been, shouting out praises on small feats, things that weren't great. And that rubbed more salt into aching wounds. It was the wrong voice that praised me now, the wrong eyes wide with admiration. It was wrong.

The eight tailed beast hit me again, more of the too red, too bright – not _mine_ – blood spraying the dirt, the few grassy patches. The ground was hard this time, nearly steel against my throbbing shoulder. There was too much blood, I knew, scattered on the ground, painted on the eight tailed beast's blades, still coming out of me in scarlet rivers. It was too much, and I would lose consciousness.

This was the time Naruto would show up, his orange clad form standing over me, calling me stupid and looking worriedly at my injuries. He would rush forward in a frontal assault then, and I would think _him_ the stupid one. Sakura would kneel by me, the worry in her emerald eyes drowning me until I had to look away. I realized that now she would be able to address my injuries, stop the bleeding. The darkness came, an army of fuzzy dots creeping in on my vision, taking away the outside world.

...Naruto and Sakura never came.


End file.
